Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, under pressure from the party’s ascendent left flank to hold the line on the government shutdown, may win a moment of approval before a crowd of the party’s base voters this weekend.
Congressional Democrats, including Schumer, are planning to attend the “No Kings” rally in the nation’s capital and fan out to more than 2,000 planned demonstrations across the country protesting President Donald Trump and his policy agenda. Republicans argue that Democrats have kept the government shuttered until Saturday’s protests, where lawmakers are expected to proclaim their willingness to fight the Trump administration and shore up their standing with progressives.
“I realize that Democrats’ far-left base is rallying in D.C. this weekend, which puts extra pressure on Democrats,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday. “But I hope they’ll do the right thing anyway and vote to reopen the government.”
That prospect did not come to fruition as Democrats blocked a House-passed, bipartisan funding measure to end the shutdown for the tenth consecutive time later on Thursday. Schumer and the majority of his caucus also filibustered a procedural motion to consider a defense spending bill on Thursday that would have shielded Pentagon funding and troop pay from the funding lapse.
The prolonged shutdown comes as left-wing activist groups, including Indivisible, a co-organizer of the “No Kings” protests, are urging their members to call Democrat offices and urge lawmakers to not cave to Republicans’ demands to reopen the government.
Schumer reportedly crafted his current shutdown strategy with several of the left-wing groups behind the anti-Trump protests.
The minority leader announced in a speech Thursday that he would attend a “No Kings” rally.
“We will not be silenced,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “That is how dictators evolve: when good people of all different beliefs and backgrounds stay silent. No King’s Day says we will not stay silent.”
Republicans argue that Schumer’s decision to go all in with a government shutdown is a purely political calculation to win approval from his far-left critics and energize the party’s base.
“They want to have their day in the sun,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday regarding Democrats’ planned attendance. “But [Democrats] should really make a deal.”
Schumer has demanded that Republicans agree to add on $1.5 trillion in unrelated healthcare policies, including a $350 billion extension of pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, to the clean funding measure in exchange for his caucus’ support. Democrats have also pressed Republicans to agree to language that would restrict the president’s authority to rescind funds and undo his previous cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting — a nonstarter for most GOP lawmakers and the White House.
With no party willing to cave to the other’s demands, the shutdown is expected to continue into next week with no resolution in sight.
Though Schumer has largely acted in coordination with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries during the 17-day shutdown, the top House Democrat demurred when asked by the DCNF about his plans to attend a “No Kings” rally on Saturday.
“I haven’t confirmed my schedule for this weekend because it remains my hope that Republicans will actually come to their senses and decide that they need to get back into town and reopen the government with some degree of urgency on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries told the DCNF.
Jeffries and nearly every member of his caucus voted against a clean stopgap funding bill in September that would have averted a shutdown.
Top Republicans have hammered Democrats for announcing their planned attendance at anti-Trump rallies in the middle of the government shutdown, arguing the demonstrations will be a display of left-wing radicalism.
“Democrats have shut down your government for 16 days,” House GOP Conference chair Lisa McClain said Thursday. “They’ve posed for glossy photo shoots outside the Capitol. They’ve screamed at Capitol Police officers — who, by the way, Democrats are refusing to pay.”
“Now they’re gearing up for their I Hate America rally this weekend, a rally where they’ll cheer for chaos instead of country,” McClain continued.
Democratic lawmakers, however, have largely dismissed that characterization and argued the protests will be peaceful.
“I support the sacred constitutional right of all Americans to peaceably assemble and speak out about what’s happening,” Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff told the DCNF.
Despite Ossoff being the most vulnerable Senate Democrat running for reelection during the midterms, he has fully embraced the party’s shutdown strategy.
“My plan is to go down and see it and be part of it,” Democratic Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper told the DCNF. “I think it’s going to be a powerful statement, because you’re going to see millions of people across America saying we do not like the direction that the White House is leading this country.”
“I know everyone’s working very hard to make sure there’s no violence,” Hickenlooper added. “There’s nothing that’s going to be provocative. That’s really what I think many in the White House would like to see, have things evolve into chaos.”
Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner also confirmed to the DCNF he would be visiting protests in the Shenandoah Valley on Saturday.
However, not all Democrats will be attending a “No Kings” rally.
Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who has repeatedly bucked her party in the shutdown fight, told the DCNF she had other plans.
“I will be here working,” Cortez Masto said while exiting the Senate chamber.
The Nevada lawmaker was just one of three Democrats who voted to advance a funding measure to ensure that troops do not miss a paycheck during the shutdown on Thursday.
Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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